Haze
by Sage of 69 Paths
Summary: Adding an OC to the beginning causes things to unfold a bit differently. Written on a whim.
1. Chapter 1

In the night, a single girl shook a spray paint can- aggravated. _All out. _She looked at the underpass she'd tagged, or well..._nearly _tagged. An incomplete piece of art. Loey's brow furrowed. The biggest of pet peeves. "It's fine" she whispered to herself, tossing the useless canisters into the bushes. "I'll have to run home and finish it, quick. It's fine" she repeated. _Maybe if I keep saying that, it'll be true._

Loey gripped her skateboard and set off. Her feet felt like they could fly. Launching had to be her favorite part of riding. The slim sense of comfort she'd built up inside flipped when the sound of sirens hit the block.

She swallowed hard, pedalled faster.

_Maybe I won't come back and finish it. Too sketchy. _

_Maybe they aren't looking for me, maybe they're looking for someone else? _Unlikely_._

Some old ninny probably saw her through a window and called the police. Just as Loey readied to turn onto her street, she had to _skrrrt _to an abrupt stop and she fell face first off her board. A cop car sat in the cross section parked horizontally, completely blocking off the street. The douchebag had a shit eating grin on his face, but that was all she got out of the blurry world considering it was one helluva tumble. Pavement; meet cheekbone.

"We had you picked for a lad, bollocks! Now I owe me next paycheck to Barb's. Thanks kid." The fucker sounded like he was eating something.

Bozo with a bagel in his mouth cuffed Loey and took her downtown. Cut to three weeks later: the court reached the decision to give her community service. Only because it was her first offense. The judge specifically stated that he was 'not a fan of her uglying up the town for fun.'

She now stood in the orange jumpsuit from hell with a fag between her lips and frown on her face. The mirror in front of her was being occupied by another girl. Loey's eyes avoided the spot because she couldn't stand to see the comb being ripped through this strangers roots over and over again.

The scraped together ponytail made Loey wanna light up right in the locker room. _Nobody likes an indoor smoker, _she reminded herself.

"You sharin' with the class, sweetheart?" A curly haired prick snatched the cigarette right from her lips and Loey felt her anger flare. She inhaled through her nose, in and out, willing herself to stay calm. _Fuck it. Let the tosser keep it. I have a whole pack. _

She looked past the douchebag trying to fit _her _fag behind his ear, admiring the way the other male styled his jumpsuit. He had it unzipped and around his waist to show off his muscles. That's a good idea. She really hated how the outfit bunch up at her armpits and chest because they weren't exactly designed for 'big titties.'

Loey whirled around and unzipped her front- specifically not wanting to see the irish fellas reaction to her tattoo or her breasts. Her blue crop top underneath kept her shoulders and chest covered, but it revealed just a few inches of midriff, exposing the tiny seal drawn next to her bellybutton.

"You pull it off better _way_ than I do" The 6 foot tall, dark skinned, Adonis with style said, clearly attempting to be sexy. He shot her a passing grin as he walked out of the locker room.

"Aye! No flirting yet, mate! We haven't called dibs" Prick hollered from behind.

"Prick" Alisha echoed Loey's own thoughts.

She was the only person in the group that Loey knew, from college. They hooked up with some of the same dudes. A lot of Loey's ex boyfriend's were Alisha's one night flings. _I always did have a thing for the wounded. She's looking well fit though, _her green eyes quite obviously lingered on her old friends exposed bra.

While the others exited- Alisha lingered.

"Haven't seen you in awhile" She mumbled, her eyes unfocused as she applied mascara.

_What's this about? _Loey wondered.

"You still dating Rudy?"

_Oh._ She stopped running her fingers through her curls and swallowed with disdain. Her gaze shooting to the floor and her mood plummeting.

"No. I walked in on him fucking my mum" Loey answered without emotion.

* * *

"This is it. This is your chance to do something positive. Give something back. You can help people. Really make a difference in people's lives."

Loey couldn't help but snort, thinking back to the night of her arrest. _Yeah that's what I'll be doing here. As if._ _Picking up piss and shit doesn't make fuck all of a difference._

When she walked out last of the group from the locker room, everyone had already lined up against the railing. Loey made a beeline in an attempt to stand next to the quietest bloke on the end, but instead- Irish boy had other plans. He'd made a valiant effort and almost had her a headlock, wrestling with her childishly on for all to see. _At first. _

She stopped putting up a fight and wound up under his arm. Her cheeks burned like tomato's and she wanted to crawl into a hole, but there was no denying the butterflies in her stomach. _I like the way he smells. God I'm a fucking dolt. A honest to god dipshit. _

The girl with no hairline made a horse toothed expression at the two from Loey's right. _Yep. A hole. I want to crawl into a hole and die._

"There are people out there who think you're scum. You have an opportunity to show them that they're wrong."

"But what if they're right?" The prick wrapped around her said with a comical expression "No offense. I'm thinkin some people are just born criminals."

Prick motioned with his hands not-very-subtly towards a less than impressive thug type.

"You lookin' to get stabbed?"

"Don't look at me when you say that" Loey couldn't help the grate of her own voice, loud and irritated, earning a grin from the athletic player. She cringed and leaned to spit into the water uncaring.

"See my point there?" Curly pressed further into her side.

A phone went off and Alisha being Alisha, she answered it; twirling a finger around her highlighted curls.

_So is this it then? Chaos? _Loey relented to the forced affection of this guy who's name she didn't even know, and hid her face in his jumpsuit clad shoulder. Clearly he was keen on making some sort of moronic community service claim on her.

"Doesn't matter what you've done in the past."

"Hey? Doing my community service. Boring as fuck."

Tony, AKA clipboard and bullshit: the social worker, grew annoyed. "Excuse me. I'm still talking here."

Alisha wasn't having it. Loey snorted.

"Wot'? I thought you'd finished."

_Sometimes I wish I could just step out of my body. _Being around so many people sucked the life out of her, having to keep up with all the different energies going on. From the cokehead pissed off at her new boytoy to Tony's lost ass.

"You see my mouth still moving...that means I'm still talking."

"Yeah well, you could've been yawning…..ooor chewin'."

"Or miming. " Loey mumbled.

It took way too long for them all to amble over and start actually working, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Killing time is kind of the only thing to do when it comes to 200 hours. Painting benches isn't the most thrilling activity. But with a brush and a bucket of her own, Loey gets away from the affectionate shit for brains known as Nathan. She didn't want to have feelings for someone and get her heart broken. He looked like the sort.

"I don't think you're weird. I think they're weird. Neither of 'em know me but they both hit on me?" Loey confessed to her new companion decidedly expressing her slight discomfort, and also making the quiet bloke feel a bit better. Nathan kept referring to him as 'weird kid.' No matter how many times she socked his arm.

"I'm Loey" she introduced, offering him a handshake.

Gary, the gangbanger wannabe, got up and threw all of his shit suddenly. He was in front of them so they both cringed back.

"Aw man! There's paint on my cap!"

_Good the fucking thing was ugly, _she thought.

Everyone shared a laugh as the fit-throwing bitch ran into a shopping cart- leaving them to fall into a peaceful chatter.

"-This is a network for young offenders. We should be swapping tips, brainstorming'" Nathan spoke to Kelly, the chav, from the side "come on what did you do?"

Her eavesdropping was interrupted as the 'weird kid' finally took her outstretched hand.

"I'm Simon."

Her interest sparked and her focus recentered, she smiled brightly. Glad to have made a friend not in it for her knickers.

"What about you, WEIRD KID?"

The handshake dropped and Simon's glimpse of hope disappeared, a light scuffed out, and a new frown on his face. He looked like he'd seen some shit. Loey wondered if his ex fucked his mum as well.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything- but you look like a panty sniffer" Nathan pretended to sniff imaginary knickers.

She choked on her saliva, and spit off to the side. A bad habit of hers. She was shocked that he'd be so rude so openly.

"I'm not a panty sniffer" Simon said, which clearly he wasn't, he just looked like a mommas boy or something, not a complete creep "I'm not a pervert."

_Oh my god._

Nathan then began making these disgusting jerk-off noises, for some reason just needing to keep pissing people off. It was rather unattractive so Loey blatantly stared at him, wanting to memorize the moment and deter those screwy butterflies.

"I tried to burn someone's house down" Simon said with a whole lotta pent up aggression.

Loey had the feeling they were seeing the same facial expression Simon wore when he decided to do such a thing. He looked like he wanted to hit Nathan's house next. She snorted at the thought and dropped a hand compassionately on his shoulder.

"People suck everywhere; you must have had a good reason" she reasoned- beginning to paint "I've done worse, mate."

He didn't ask her to elaborate but he gave her a real smile. Loey removed her hand and gave him one just as bright back.

"Aw look at ya, best buds! Tell us why you're here then, love." Nathan pretty much demanded, hands on his hips.

She swallowed and tried not to tense up. _How do I say this?_

"I was caught tagging" Loey kept things short.

What she should have said was '_I got busted graffitiing the whole damn town.' _

She shrugged her shoulders and wiped some paint off on her chin, completely forgetting about the stitching above the spot.

"Mhm and what about that pretty little scratch?" the irish thorn in her side sauntered closer. Simon became noticeably more uncomfortable, but he and Kelly held curious looks on their faces. They wanted to know too.

_Its not as if I have some interesting past. Just a whole lotta skeletons._

"Got an abusive lover we oughta' know about?"

Loey had to outright laugh at that. Nathan really was his own brand of vulgar. She could see his little ego being stroked by her amused reaction but she didn't care. _Rude as ever, Nathan IS proper funny._

"I ate shit trying to skateboard away from the police. Tragic really."

Nathan snorted then, trying to hide his reaction in his elbow.

* * *

"Amazing. Magnificent really" Tony announced with a less than pleased look on his face "its painting benches? How'd you lot manage to screw that up?" Simon and Loey both stared blankly at the part of the bench that Gary fucked up. They didn't reply. She bit her lip. She felt like something was coming. A random chill in the air made the brunette stand and pull her jumpsuit all the way up. Loey ignored Nathan's flirty whistles.

A piece of iceberg sized hale dropped straight out of the sky- crushing a windshield. _Thunder._

"That's my car!" Tony hollered next- a look of horror on his face.

Loey bumped Simon's shoulder and was about to laugh when another chunk of hale hit the garbage bins a little too close for comfort. _Is this normal? _She wondered, eyes darting all around. They both dropped to their knees and ducked at first but there was a look of conflict on his face. He paused...and then decidedly wrapped an arm around her.

"Jesus!" Curtis shouted as the storm kicked off.

All of the offenders sprinted for the community center, only to find it locked for some ungodly fucking reason. Loey clutched Simon's arm in a death grip only to be ripped away by the increasing winds.

That was when the lightning hit.

**Authors Note**

I decided to end the first chapter here so that you, the reader, get to help me decide what Loey's power should be. And if she should romance Nathan or Simon. I could have her get the ability of force fields which she would later advance and be able to use energy bursts like Violet in the Incredibles. I could give her a hulk type power where when she gets too stressed, she becomes strong and fast and blacks out. I could give her intuition, rendering Future Simon useless and saving a lot of time for everyone. I could give her the ability to take away the 4 senses. What do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

_Darkness. The sound of car alarms going off and people shouting in the distance. _From the moment Loey opened her eyes; she felt stressed. Like pressure had built up in her chest and was begging to be released. Stupid gas pains, she thought.

"I feel proper weird" Kelly announced.

"Obviously" Loey spit out.

"That'd be the lightning" Curtis looked as stumped as the rest of them.

Simon, from her left, knelt towards Nathan.

"We should be dead.'

_Oh god._ _I'm gonna be sick _Loey thought, rubbing clammy palms together.

"A little reassurance might be nice, y'know. You're fine...lookin' good!"

She couldn't help but agree with Nathan for the umpteenth time that day. It was then that they all noticed a screwy look on Tony's face.

"Wanker!" he shouted…..

"Did he just call me a wanker?" Nathan asked looking at Simon and Loey, hands raised, pretty face contorted in disbelief.

"Hey?! You!" Nathan snapped his fingers at Tony in response

_Is he taking the piss? _It was like watching a human glitch. She rose to her feet. She knew when she didn't want to be somewhere well enough.

"Is everyone alright?" Tony finally managed.

The group let out various insults and rips in response. Except for Simon of course.

After which it became clear that _everybody _wanted to go home; the gang packed it in. Psycho excluded. He took his sorry clipboard-arse elsewhere. As they all pranced along the hall towards the locker room, Nathan made a playfully large grab at Loey's bum.

_And here I thought the jumpsuit made it look nonexistent. _She smiled at him. For once it was clear he wasn't just doing it for attention (because no one was looking) and that made her happy.

"Hey, Nathan?" Loey called.

He stumbled in his walk. "Yeah?" grinned all devil like.

"Let me walk you home later?"

_Forward is me middle name, _she thought humorously. Ignoring the suddenly disgusted looks being shot to her from the leading girls. And Curtis. And Simon ...Okay, so everyone.

* * *

She figured she wouldn't want to wear the same shit after community service, in the locker room she dressed quickly. Eager to get into fresh clothes. A pair of barely there black workout leggings and an oversized football jersey belonging to her dad made her feel a lot better. _Homey but also super cute. _She was forcing her hair into a bun almost as tight as the chav's when-

"Oi, quit fuckin' calling me a chav!"

Kelly shouted from across the locker room, giving Alisha and Loey the dirtiest look thus far.

"I'll kick ya teeth in, I swear" the girl threatened while putting her hair brush away.

_That's weird._

_Maybe she should have enclosed the fact that she's a bloody psychic. _Loey made a side note to talk to her when she got a chance. Kelly was quite pretty- style wise, makeup, and face. People only thought of her as a chav because of her accent and her being white, scraping her hair back, acting all gangster like. All those things gave her character though, at a second glance.

_Nobody wants to be thought of negatively but she's got a lot going for her. More than some girls do. _When Loey was in middle school people called her butherface. Because she had a nice body but an "ugly mug."

Satisfied with her appearance, she erased the interaction from her mind and escaped to the hall.

Curtis, Nathan, and Simon, were gathered near the vending machine when Alisha and herself walked out. She knew where she wanted to stand, by the irish prick; leaving Alisha to make googly eyes at Curtis.

"Where's the probation worker? Should we just go then?" Curtis' said, his face was all knotted up in frustration.

_You're more attractive with your mouth shut. _Loey decided, glad Kelly the brain invader wasn't around for that particular thought.

"Let me just check his personal schedule for you, oh elevated one" She sarcastically drawled while staring at Curtis blankly "I'd rather get hit by lightning again than listen to you whine some more. Wait around or go home. It isn't too complicated."

An arm slid around her shoulder.

_Pressure._

_Pressure building in her chest._

What is that feeling? She wondered for a second time, so taken aback that she didn't even notice Nathan pressing her into the vending machine like a cat.

"I think there's something wrong with him" Simon said, sweet as ever, "he was having spasms or something." She wanted to focus on Tony like everyone else, the wacko probation worker, but the longer she thought about it….the more aware she became of this 'air' trapped in her chest.

"He was probably faking it" Nathan's irish voice croned, loud as hell, in Loey's ear to the rest of them "trying to get compensation probably."

Everyone parted ways after that.

Simon went one way with Kelly following a few hundred meters back, most likely put off by the whole '_I tried to burn someone's house down' _thing. Meanwhile, Loey and Nathan got to know each other on the stretch of a walk towards his house. It wasn't until they cleared enough space between themselves and the community center that she pulled out her surprise.

"Normally I don't share" Loey held up a beautifully rolled spliff "but what can I say? Guess you made a good impression. Cuddling me during orientation and all."

She thought back to him wrestling her earlier. She could honestly say she felt like she'd known Nathan her whole life. And it had only been a day. Endearing, but also scary. _I won't let anyone break my heart again. Who said I'm not allowed to have a good shag and a few smiles though?_

Nathan flicked the lighter to life with glee, taking a rather _deep_ inhale. It made Loey laugh at him. The weak sputters that followed spoke for themselves.

"Toke it out, Mate" She joked- patting his back.

"No-" cough "not the friendzone."

* * *

"C'MON! the guys a didlo" Nathan yelled into his mum's letterbox.

When they arrived at the house- things escalated rather quickly. An old man across the street pervertedly ogled Loey from his living room window. She stood at the front of Nathan's driveway instead of by the door at his side. As soon as she saw the bags by the garage door and he was like 'why is the door locked?' she put distance between herself and them.

_This went from cutesy first date to something else real fast_ she thought, taking an inappropriate amount of smoke into her mouth and blowing it onto the street for whoever's grandpa that was to see.

Loey couldn't hear what his mom was saying anymore and for that she was glad. The few things she did hear at first were not pretty. Obviously the woman had no clue someone else was out there with her son when she hollered 'If you stay, he'll leave.'

_Who decides to have a kid if they're gonna treat 'em like this? Oh yeah, my mum as well. Guess the lot of us are screwed._

She tossed the roach into the street as her companion walked to her, bags on his back, face defeated. Loey put an arm around Nathan.

"It's 'kay" She stated "we all get abandoned by our parents are one point or another."

He laughed.

"You're kinda screwed up. I like it."

* * *

That night.

Loey tossed and she turned and she tossed and she turned. The house silent except for the snores of her dog, Ripper, in the hallway. It wasn't that she couldn't get comfortable in bed- it was her body that felt...off. Eventually as the light of her alarm clock glared at her, she gave up trying to sleep.

She stepped into the shower without hesitation. Hot water hit her and suddenly a migraine like feeling hit causing her vision to go fuzzy. She lowered and clutched the bathroom wall tiles only to find them not there. Only to open her eyes and find her hand not there.

A haze of just barely visible smoke mingling in the water and steam sat in place where her hand would be. The pressure in her chest had released feeling the shock of the water and her eyes darted around the room with panic searching for herself. She found nothing.

Loey stayed like that until the sun came up. She couldn't figure out how to get back to a solid. It wasn't until she stopped playing the lightning and halestorm over in her head that she realized if she focused on sucking that feeling back inside herself, her molecules would reform.

Ripper the doberman stared at her with wide eyes as a cloud smelling like his owner morphed.

Authors Note: I know it's been literally forever and a half but I, sorry to say this, got a new laptop and then dead ass forgot about this account/fic. I reread what I wrote for the first chapter, got inspired, and got to writing asap for my 5 PRECIOUS and BELOVED reviewers lol. Y'all a dime a dozen. Rare like steak. Anyways, I threw ya for a loop with that power idea didn't I? And I think I've decided it's going to be Nathan/OC but Simon still has plenty of time to get a romantic footing and make a move if its what my readers want.


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